Tainos

Taino History


The Tainos were a nation of indigenous people who flourished in the Greater Antilles-Caribbean Sea (Hispaniola). These islands included Cuba, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Jamaica and Puerto Rico when Christopher Columbus landed on beaches of the New World in 1492.


According to most scholars the decline of the Taino people dwindled quickly with the arrival of the Spaniards. The Spanish brought diseases which were foreign to the Taino's immune system. Many were enslaved to pave roads, build housing, farm foods and construct forts like the widely known landmark of El Morro de San Felipe in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Tainos